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Ocean Avenue Books
Rating Details »
Category: Bookstores [Edit]
Neighborhood: Ingleside1735 Ocean Ave
(between Dorado Ter & Faxon Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 587-2665
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
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"Even better than the new book smell is the old book smell. Even better than new releases from favorite authors are ancient copies of…" read more »
20 reviews for Ocean Avenue Books
The first time I stepped into Ocean Avenue Books, Diane had one of my favorite books, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. What was even more awesome was when she gave me free screening tickets to the Kite Runner at Clay Theater for that night... I hit jackpot!
I work in the neighborhood and often shop at Ocean Ave Books. Diane has a great selection, some I can find at Amazon for retail price and books that I can't find anywhere. The last books I picked up, What to Expect When Expecting (only $6, a gift for my BFF) and Julia Child's classic gourmet cookbook (a priceless $7). Sometimes Diane has $1 specials, which is how I got one of my all time favs, "Like Water For Chocolate."
I am always treated well at Ocean Avenue Books. If there is a book that isn't at the shop, Diane will help you search on where you can find it. Who does that these days?
Name an author or a book you like and Diane will recommend a good book for you. Ocean Avenue Books is like any other good bookstore...full of books! I will most def. be back to this shop.
My encounters with Diane have always been positive. I find it funny that Sean C. would review a bookstore he probably never stepped into. Anyone who goes into Ocean Avenue Books knows the owner because she is always there! Why do a yelp review if you don't patronize the business? There are always two sides to the story.
I have been to Ocean Avenue Books.
Most of you who have reviewed Ocean Avenue Books, haven't been there. Your reviews are invalid, and should be removed.
In my EXPERIENCE, Ocean Avenue Books is no more or less organized than many other small shops. And like many small shops it takes on a personality of its own. Nobody has the right to change the owner's maintenance of the shop, and the owner has the right to refuse service to anyone.
I hope the owner exercises that right where appropriate, not that many of you would ever enter a bookstore for any productive purpose.
Long live independent business owners.
***UPDATE***
After my initial review I started receiving numerous insulting and threatening emails from the owner - you can see them here http://www.flickr.com/...
On November 1st she showed up at my front door and TRIED TO FORCE HER WAY INTO MY HOUSE!!! After a serious struggle I was able to repel her back outside and get the door locked and call 911. The police quickly arrived and arrested her - the next day I was awarded a restraining order against her. I'm still not entirely clear how she got my address.
http://blogs.sfweekly....
http://blogs.sfweekly....
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
10/29/2009
This place is a TOTAL MESS with minimal organization of titles or subjects. There are books stacked… Read more »
I refuse to do business with a store owner who has no respect for customers and cannot take others' input under consideration. There are plenty of other quality bookstores in SF with a higher level of customer service.
A messy store is one thing, but not listening to customers is another. Sorry, but you just lost a customer. I won't shop here anymore because of sub-standard customer service. :(
Wow, check out the story about the lady who owns this place:
http://www.sfgate.com/...
LMAO!
But very scarry that someone can do that to a Yelper.
I like this book store.
It has good books and good prices.
I wish the Yelp moderators would stop deleting my reviews.
This book store caters to the local community and her customer base. I conjecture that the YELP demographic doesn't shop at bookstores, especially not in the Ocean/Merced/Ingleside neighborhood. I imagine most of your business goes to Amazon anyway.
I'm yelping four-stars because this business meets a local need and the business owner is providing an important service for an otherwise struggling commercial district. I commend her for even trying to run this business against the odds.
I've been to Ocean Avenue Books on several occassions. Having briefly (very briefly) published a literary magazine (Swallow), I have been to almost everybook store in the city. If you like neighborhood bookstores with ecclectic cred, this is the place. In each stack there are treasures to be discovered. I picked up a used copy of Louise Brooks' book of essays, Lulu in Hollywood. Being a HUGE Louise Brooks fan, I was very happy to have found this out of print book.
This used bookstore was located on West Portal Ave. As a fan of other used bookstores the organization can be hit or miss. The space is small and I was not impressed with the selection. I did try to sell some books to the store. I was miffed I only got "store credit" on a textbook from City College. I have not been back since. I use the library.
I lived in San Francisco for years and loved going to old neighborhood bookstores, hunting for old books in the mess and dust. I liked this bookstore for it's chaos and the unexpected books I would come across. There are very few of them left. Like every other mom and pop store, from coffee shops to bookstores the corporate mega chains are taking over and business owners can close down and look forward to working for a corporate business for $8 an hour.
In this brave new world of the internet we have Sean C. the dragon slayer, succeeding in unhinging a distraught, distressed and possibly unstable business owner who is battling to survive. There is more going on than a two star review he gave, nobody has seen ALL the email exchanges between them. He could have defused the situation with some common sense and civility. With his hubris and arrogance he is now a hero for the morally challenged and those lacking compassion - most of them probably vegans, or at least vegetarians .
Obviously the book store owner is at fault and acted in an inappropriate manner - but where's the compassion people? I guess we shouldn't really care, thanks to Sean C. her business has probably been destroyed. Yay, one more mom and pop down and a strike for the corporate fat cats in suits who don't give a damn about anybody - but neither do a lot of people on Yelp.
Unlike many reviewers, I'VE ACTUALLY SHOPPED HERE. Yes, it's a bit of a dusty mess, but if you want barnes and noble you'd never wander in here anyway. It's great that the neighborhood has an independent bookstore (4 stars), with an apparently crazy owner (-1 star).
I just want to be attacked by the owner...Diane, can you see this?! If so, come to NY and choke me!
Avoid this store!
Sounds like Diane has some mental problems and has zero tolerance for negative reviews. She was featured on the news as tracking down a Yelp reviewer and busting into his house and attacking him.
As a huge independent bookstore fan and previous employee of several bookstores - I would never shop here again. Not that I actually spent any money here because I found it grungy. Thank god I now live far enough away that the owner can't come to by door and assault me for a negative review.
I came in this past spring in search of a Virginia Woolf for my women's studies class. Yes, the place gives off the appearance that it's seen better days, but so has every other used bookstore I've ever come across. I shyly asked the woman behind the counter (Diane I'm assuming) if she had any copies of the book, and she quickly jumped off her seat and started searching in the Woolf section. She seemed to know where everything was and remembered when she last received a copy of the book. In the end, she couldn't find it but she started listing off several places where I'd have better luck. She was friendly, helpful, and she knows her books.
Wow, my positive review from this afternoon just got removed as well. I am highly disappointed in Yelp.
All I posted this afternoon was that I wanted to see Sean C.'s responses back to the business owner and that we should support our local businesses. I shop on Ocean Avenue all the time and have stopped by this book store numerous times.
I could almost understand my post being removed if I had used profanities or said something rude...
A, B, C, D -
Sidetracked, book falling off shelf. Must sandwich in between so stack doesn't collapse.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H -
Collected works of Poe misplaced in "H" section. Thumb through it, audible shuffling from the ancient pages that look like they've bathed in coffee, feel like they've been treated with starch. Keep browsing, quoth the raven.
H, I, J, K -
Then I remember what I had written down on that laundry list (a list I really ought to just keep in my pocket, since it does me little service rotting in my apartment) of wanted books. I start to navigate towards "T".
Q, R, S, T, U, - I have to keep chanting the alphabet to find my place, as I can't for the life of me figure out if "TH" comes before "TI", apparently.
I didn't find what I was looking for that day, but I did happen to pick up a Carl Sagan book that I misplaced on BART. I had spent a good three hours looking for a replacement at Borders downtown, never thought to go to the place that's literally a few blocks from me.
That's the thing about this place, though. You can't go in with a specific request. You have to go in, inhale the dust, crouch and hunch, hum the alphabet, and take your time.
It is everything that the Ingleside Library (see review) failed at, in terms of environment. It is the epitome of "used book store": poorly lit, mothball invested, disorganized, and a bit chaotic. It screams, "I've been locked inside my house through my own devices, have tired of recycling The Chronicle into origami, and have decided to read every book I could manage to stack in front of my doorway."
My visit today scored me five books for twenty bucks. I had been in there for two hours and could have spent another eon, but the time was nearing 6pm, closing time.
I have to pace myself and keep my distance sometimes, as I've never walked out empty handed.
I'm an Ingleside man, born and raised. So I'm incredibly happy that we have a functioning bookstore on Ocean Avenue. However, the problem is the interior and decor: when you step inside, it's as if someone swallowed the 80's and threw it up in there! Dust everywhere, no real catalog system and fake flowers. The manager (Diane) is a sweet lady, but the reality is that a snazzy window display and a good cleaning would make people pay attention to this gem. Please!!!
Somewhere along the short move from west portal to ocean avenue a few dozen boxes of books must've fallen out of their moving van. Definitely not the selection it used to be, but location is still very convenient.
I have lived two blocks up the hill for three years now, and finally we get what we deserve here in Ingleside Manor/Ocean Heights/K-Line Corridor or whatever the hell you wanna call this neighborhood: a corner bookstore with a cool owner named Diane and shelves of hard-to-find and very affordable books. It took this place just a short time to get organized and it's shaping up to be a place where I could see myself sauntering in to on a regular basis. They will buy and trade books as well, so go on, do the world some good and pay the nice lady a visit. Your brain will thank you.
